[HTML][HTML] Expansion of cytotoxic tissue-resident CD8+ T cells and CCR6+CD161+ CD4+ T cells in the nasal mucosa following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination

A Ssemaganda, HM Nguyen, F Nuhu, N Jahan… - Nature …, 2022 - nature.com
A Ssemaganda, HM Nguyen, F Nuhu, N Jahan, CM Card, S Kiazyk, G Severini, Y Keynan
Nature communications, 2022nature.com
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have shown high efficacy in clinical trials, yet a full
immunologic characterization of these vaccines, particularly within the human upper
respiratory tract, is less well known. Here, we enumerate and phenotype T cells in nasal
mucosa and blood using flow cytometry before and after vaccination with the Pfizer-
BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (n= 21). Tissue-resident memory (Trm) CD8+ T cells
expressing CD69+ CD103+ increase in number~ 12 days following the first and second …
Abstract
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have shown high efficacy in clinical trials, yet a full immunologic characterization of these vaccines, particularly within the human upper respiratory tract, is less well known. Here, we enumerate and phenotype T cells in nasal mucosa and blood using flow cytometry before and after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (n = 21). Tissue-resident memory (Trm) CD8+ T cells expressing CD69+CD103+ increase in number ~12 days following the first and second doses, by 0.31 and 0.43 log10 cells per swab respectively (p = 0.058 and p = 0.009 in adjusted linear mixed models). CD69+CD103+CD8+ T cells in the blood decrease post-vaccination. Similar increases in nasal CD8+CD69+CD103 T cells are observed, particularly following the second dose. CD4+ cells co-expressing CCR6 and CD161 are also increased in abundance following both doses. Stimulation of nasal CD8+ T cells with SARS-CoV-2 spike peptides elevates expression of CD107a at 2- and 6-months (p = 0.0096) post second vaccine dose, with a subset of donors also expressing increased cytokines. These data suggest that nasal T cells may be induced and contribute to the protective immunity afforded by this vaccine.
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